MONIQUE MAVRONICOLAS COPING WITH CHRONIC HEALTH DISORDERS

1. Introduction
The main objective of this paper is to define chronic health disorders and the
strategies people instil in order to manage these disorders. The aim will be to
explore 4 different chronic health disorders and how individuals approach treatment,
compliance and different coping methods whilst living with the disorder.
The American Heritage Stedman's Medical Dictionary defines disorder as A
disturbance or derangement that affects the function of mind or body, such as an
eating disorder or the abuse of a drug. To disturb the normal physical or mental
health of. Whereas the World Health Organisation defines a disorder as a
noncomminicable disease (NCDs) Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), also known
as chronic diseases, are not passed from person to person. They are of long
duration and generally slow progression. The four main types of noncommunicable
diseases are cardiovascular diseases (like heart attacks and stroke), cancers,
chronic respiratory diseases (such as chronic obstructed pulmonary disease and
asthma) and diabetes.
According to the Global Health Organisation data fact sheets, NCDs such as heart
disease, stroke, cancer, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes, are the
foremost causes of death globally. Unfortunately most NCDs is the imperceptible
widespread cause of poverty within families and communities. NCDs affect all
age groups in all countries all over the globe, some however are regularly related
with older age groups. In January 2015 WHO updated the following key facts
regarding NCDs:
38 million people are killed each year due to NCDs
Low- and middle-income countries contribute almost three quarters of NCD
deaths - 28 million
16 million NCD deaths occur before the age of 70; 82% of these "premature"
deaths occurred in low- and middle-income countries.
Cardiovascular diseases account for most NCD deaths, or 17.5 million people
annually, followed by cancers (8.2 million), respiratory diseases (4 million),
and diabetes (1.5 million).
These 4 groups of diseases account for 82% of all NCD deaths.
Tobacco use, physical inactivity, the harmful use of alcohol and unhealthy
diets all increase the risk of dying from an NCD.
Below is an indication of where in the world most deaths occur due to NCDs: the
illustrated world map is according to age-standardized death rate (per 100k
population), both male and female recorded in 2012.
(http://gamapserver.who.int/mapLibrary/Files/Maps/Global_NCD_deaths_2012.png )

MONIQUE MAVRONICOLAS COPING WITH CHRONIC HEALTH DISORDERS

2. Psychology theories and coping strategies

People are often inclined to develop customary characteristics and methods to
manage upsetting emotions and/or unwanted situations. Apart from a persons
personality personae, they often use these habitual approaches to calm themselves
in these stressful situations. Due to the individualism and different circumstances in
upbringing and environment, these coping mechanisms does not always succeed in
assisting the person with dealing with problem/situation. There is a definite affiliation
between ones emotional quotient (EQ) and the type of coping methods one prefers.
Individuals with low EQ are inclined to select relatively simple and often inefficient
coping methods, often reactive and unconscious rather than well though through.
Whilst individuals with a higher EQ often lean to more refined methods, responding
more deliberate and conscious which leads to more proactive methods in most
cases. These methods are often called defence mechanisms as described by
psychotherapists, through their psychology theories. Various psychology theories
explains the individuals approach to their situation/emotion/reaction/event, these
include;

Behavioural Theories also known as behaviourism, this theory of learning is

founded on the idea that all behaviours are developed through habituation
advocated by psychologists such as John B. Watson and B.F. Skinner.
Cognitive Theories these theories are focused on motivation, problem
solving, decision-making, thinking, and attention of the person.
Developmental Theories - provide a framework for thinking about human
growth, development, and learning.
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MONIQUE MAVRONICOLAS COPING WITH CHRONIC HEALTH DISORDERS

Humanist Theories focus on the basic goodness of human beings. Some of

the major humanist theorists include Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow.
Personality Theories - Personality psychology looks at the patterns of
thoughts, feelings, and behaviour that make a person distinctive.
Social Psychology Theories assist in understanding and explaining social
behaviour, it is centred on exact social behavioural incident, including group
behaviour, social influence and love to name but a few.
Learning Theories these theories focus on how people learning and acquire
new knowledge.

The above listed theories are often accompanied by a set of defence mechanisms or
reactions the individual choses to use to protect themselves against the situation
they find themselves in, some of these include:

Denial - the inability or refusal to accept the troubling aspect or reality

Passive-aggression - a thought or feeling is not acceptable enough to a

person to be allowed direct expression.

Fantasy often daydreaming about how things should be rather than doing
something about it

Displacement - an unacceptable feeling or thought about a person, place or

thing is redirected towards a safer target.

Isolation - Overwhelming feelings or thoughts about an event are handled by

isolating their meaning from the feelings accompanying the meaning, and
focusing on the meaning in isolation.

Reaction Formation - react to uncomfortable, unacceptable feelings or ideas

that you have (but aren't quite conscious of really), by forming the opposite
opinion.

Suppression - a conscious form of repression, where one chooses not to

engage or talk about difficult feelings or thought and decide to put off dealing
with them till a later stage

Altruism - converting uncomfortable feelings and thoughts, by helping others

suffering from similar feelings and thoughts who are less far along in dealing
with them than myself.

Distraction - intentionally deciding to put off thinking or feeling distressing

thoughts or feelings by briefly focusing your attention towards something less
intimidating.

The above are but a few coping mechanisms that individuals use. For the purpose of
this paper we will explain 4 different chronic health disorders (physiological as well
as psychological disorders) and evaluate the different coping strategies individuals
use whilst living with the disorder.
2.1 Asthma
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MONIQUE MAVRONICOLAS COPING WITH CHRONIC HEALTH DISORDERS

The definition of Asthma according to WHO is Asthma attacks all age groups but
often starts in childhood. It is a disease characterized by recurrent attacks of
breathlessness and wheezing, which vary in severity and frequency from person
to person. In an individual, they may occur from hour to hour and day to day.

This condition is due to inflammation of the air passages in the lungs and affects
the sensitivity of the nerve endings in the airways so they become easily irritated.
In an attack, the lining of the passages swell causing the airways to narrow and
reducing the flow of air in and out of the lungs.
(http://www.who.int/respiratory/asthma/definition/en/).
Individuals who suffer from asthma are not often thought of as an individual that has
a chronic health disorder due to the way people have been managing their asthma in
order to enjoy everyday life. Chronic asthma however could cause pain, fatigue,
stress and a great disruption to everyday life.
As in any other chronic disorder, no one should be in denial about having asthma.
There are various coping methods one could use to manage the disorder:
2.1.1 Education
The best way to manage ones chronic asthma is to educate oneself with regards
to the disorder. What triggers your asthma, how are you affected by the triggers,
do you require medication to relieve the attack, what can you do to prevent the
attacks,
2.1.2 Medication
2.1.3 Triggers
2.1.4 Exercise
2.1.5 Support

MONIQUE MAVRONICOLAS COPING WITH CHRONIC HEALTH DISORDERS

References
Disorder. (n.d.). The American Heritage Stedman's Medical Dictionary. Available at
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/disorder accessed on 4 February 2015
Noncommunicable diseases available at
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs355/en/ accessed on 4 February 2015
Coping Strategies and Defence Mechanisms: Basic and Intermediate Defences
available at http://www.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=9791
accessed on 4 February 2015
Psychology theories available at
http://psychology.about.com/od/psychology101/u/psychology-theories.htm accessed
on 4 February 2015
Coping with asthma as a chronic illness available at
http://asthma.about.com/lw/Health-Medicine/Conditions-and-diseases/Coping-withAsthma-as-a-Chronic-Illness.htm accessed on 4 February 2015

Chronic respiratory diseases, Asthma Definition available at

http://www.who.int/respiratory/asthma/definition/en/ - accessed on 4 February 2015
Asthma available at http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Asthma/Pages/Introduction.aspx
accessed on 4 February 2015